cannabisnews.com: Families Migrate to Colorado for Marijuana Miracle
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Families Migrate to Colorado for Marijuana Miracle
Posted by CN Staff on November 10, 2013 at 19:15:15 PT
By Kristen Stewart, Salt Lake Tribune
Source: Salt Lake Tribune
Denver -- Piper rolls back and forth across a large blanket on the living room floor, windmilling her arms and kicking her legs. "Who’s a happy girl?" asks her mom, Annie Koozer, kneeling over the 2-year-old with a small, oil-filled syringe. Piper fusses as Annie squirts a tiny amount into the side of her mouth. "What do you think about that? That’s not too bad, especially if it makes you feel better," says Annie.
It could take days or weeks before Annie and her husband, Justin Koozer, know whether the medicine controls Piper’s debilitating seizures. But waiting is familiar ground for the young Tennessee family that has tried virtually every pharmaceutical fix available, traveled 1,300 miles to get here and waited more than two months for what may be their best and final hope: cannabis. The Koozers are part of a migration of families uprooting their lives and moving to Colorado, where the medicinal use of marijuana is permitted. More than medical tourists, they are medical refugees, forced to flee states where cannabis is off limits. "This is just the first wave," said Margaret Gedde, a Colorado Springs physician with a doctorate from Stanford who prescribes marijuana and has compiled case studies of children using cannabis-infused oil. "These families are going to keep coming as awareness spreads because the results are real." Gedde has been monitoring 11 children with seizure disorders who are taking the same cannabis extract Piper is receiving, and she will present her findings at the annual meeting of the American Epilepsy Association in December. Nine of the children have had a 90 to 100 percent reduction in their seizures, she said. The parents of one child aren’t sure the oil has helped, but it hasn’t hurt. And the other had a 50 percent reduction. "It’s absolutely remarkable," she said. Medical marijuana is currently legal in 20 states, plus D.C. and Portland, Maine. But Colorado has become the go-to place for an extract from a plant that’s high in cannabidiol (CBD) but low in tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive chemical component of marijuana that creates a high in users. Marijuana entrepreneurs and cultivators Joel, Jesse, Jonathan, Jordan, Jared and Josh Stanley call it Charlotte’s Web, named for the Colorado Springs girl who tried it first and went from having 300 seizures a week to about two a month. Videos showing a once-catatonic Charlotte Figi now talking, running on a beach and horseback riding have lured families from far and wide. The number of children younger than 14 with marijuana "red cards" tripled in the last five months from seven in March to 21 in August, according to the Colorado Department of Health and Environment. A waiting list the Stanleys keep for their CBD extract numbers about 200 and growing, said Josh Stanley, the oldest of the six brothers running the non-profit Realm of Caring Foundation. The list includes about 30 kids in Utah whose parents, instead of relocating, are lobbying for permission to import the "herbal" remedy, which they’ve dubbed Alepsia. Since it’s so low in THC, they argue, it meets U.S. agricultural standards for hemp, which is used in products such as clothing and lotions. Next week they hope to receive the blessing of Utah’s Controlled Substance Advisory Committee, which makes recommendations on the scheduling, or classification, of drugs. ‘My heart is heavy’ The Koozers believe Piper is the first child with Aicardi syndrome to try Charlotte’s Web. Aicardi is a rare chromosomal disorder characterized by infantile spasms, or seizures, and the partial or complete absence of a structure in the brain called the corpus callosum. Doctors discovered Piper was missing the thick band of nerve fibers that divides her cerebrum into left and right hemispheres when she was in the womb, during a 20-week ultrasound. "We went to find out if we were having a girl or boy ... Ten minutes later we learned there was something wrong with how her brain was developing," Annie wrote on a blog she keeps to update friends and family. Almost all the cases have been girls. There is no cure; most children die either before the age of 1 or in their early teens.For months after she was born Piper seemed to develop normally, cooing, making eye contact and flashing dimpled grins right on cue. "She is already trying to roll over," Annie blogged on Sept. 12, 2011. "We are amazed at what she can do already, and she is just 3.5 weeks old!"The doctor suggested that, unless she suffered delays, to wait until she turned 2 to put her through the stress of testing. A month later she had her first seizures and her first long stint in a hospital. "My heart is heavy and my mind, body and spirit are tired ... I am trying to give my worry to God but it is easier said than done. I’m not sure I will ever feel like myself again," Annie wrote on November 11, 2011. ‘So helpless and frustrated’ -- That year was a blur of doctor visits and brain scans as the Koozers searched for a drug to calm the seizures. To date, they have tried nine therapies, including phenobarbital. It left Piper like a zombie, said Annie. "She was sedated and lost muscle tone. She stopped smiling for nine months." While weaning her from the barbituate the family sought approval to use vigabatrin, then an investigational treatment known as a "wonder drug" in the Aicardi community. One of the side effects, however, is permanent vision loss. Already Piper’s retinas are dotted with small holes, one of the markers of her disease. She has good vision but probably sees the world as if she’s looking through Swiss cheese, Annie surmises. "Last night we had a particularly bad night. She wasn’t able to fall asleep until 4 a.m. because she just had cluster after cluster [of seizures]...250 in a 6 hour period," Annie blogged on Valentine’s Day in 2012, days before receiving approval. "I felt so helpless and frustrated I would have done anything to help her (like give her vigabatrin). I guess God is giving me a sign." It cut her seizures in half, but the Koozers wanted a better therapy with less harsh side effects. They were out of options. Their neurologist in Tennessee supports the couple’s decision to try cannabis, which they learned about through support groups on Facebook. "He understands we’ve reached the end of the line. There’s one more drug, but it has a high chance of liver failure and he recommended waiting to try it when Piper is older," said Justin. CBD mystery: Scientists are still learning how CBD works. One theory is that it modulates the transmission of electrical signals in the brain. The human body makes endocannnabaniods similar, but not identical, to cannabinoid compounds in marijuana, said Gedde. "We have receptors to cannabinoids all throughout our bodies." In our brains and nervous systems, messages are sent through electricity from cell to cell, directing them to perform activities. With epilepsy, those signals get out of control, like an electrical storm. The research is incomplete but some studies suggest cannabinoids, when released, have a dampening effect on those signals, calming the seizures, Gedde said. "So kids with epilepsy, it could be that their natural cannabinoid system is insufficient." But Igor Grant, director of the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research at the University of California, San Diego, urges caution. "What we don’t know is, do most children benefit or is there some subset who uniquely benefit?" he said. "We also don’t know if it’s doing some harm ... CBD is not psychoactive, but that doesn’t mean it’s harmless."Another big question is how long CBD’s curative effects will last. "What can happen with any new anti-seizure medicine is you get seizure reduction for awhile — they call it the honeymoon — but then it stops working," said Gedde. Realm has documented two children — Charlotte and Zaki (pronounced Za-chai) — who have used the oil successfully for more than a year. And both children are not only virtually seizure-free, they’re gaining developmental ground as their brains appear to be forming new connections. "It works really well, it appears to keep working and it doesn’t have the side effects and toxicity of other anti-seizure meds," Gedde said. Evidence of cannabinoids’ anti-seizure potential dates back to the 1840s, including studies in labs, animals and humans. And GW Pharmaceuticals is running clinical trials of a purified form of CBD. The 11 children Gedde has been monitoring all have "convulsive-type seizures and severe [developmental] delays," she said. "We focused on them because they are the most severe and we wanted the results to be comparable to [GW Pharmaceuticals’] studies." Some of the children have genetic disorders, she said, and "others had brain damage from not getting enough oxygen at birth. Another family had a storage disease where metabolytes build up in the body and become toxic." ‘Stay objective’ -- It could take years for GW’s drug to win federal approval and Gedde wonders if it will work as well as the whole plant extract, which also contains trace amounts of other cannabinoids. And for families like the Koozers, time is brain matter. Piper is about 4 to 5 months of age developmentally. She can’t talk but is pretty easygoing, said Annie. "She gets that from her Dad." On a bad day Piper has three to four 10-minute clusters of seizures. She’s unable to sleep through the night and as she’s gotten older, they seem to upset her more, said Annie. "It could mean she’s developing. Since she turned 2 she has things that she really dislikes, such as having her clothes changed or brushing her hair. But it’s hard to see her scream and cry." The Stanley brothers feel the urgency, too. On Oct. 25 they moved 20 patients off the waiting list, including Piper, providing them with their first batch at one of their dispensaries in Colorado Springs. On any given morning, there’s a line of customers waiting to be buzzed inside, some in pin-stripe shirts, others covered in tattoos — and lately, moms pushing strollers and wheelchairs. After they show their red card and sign in, they’re escorted to a glass case in the back filled with jars of bud with names such as Orange Kush and Choco-lope, pre-rolled joints and pot brownies. Parents receive bottles of liquid medicine mixed to order, based on their child’s weight. "We tell parents not to expect miracles, to stay objective and have no loyalty to the medicine and to stop using it if it doesn’t work or they see any ill side effects," said Joel Stanley. "It’s just like any other medicine." Found by parents -- The waiting list for Charlotte’s Web is carefully managed because once someone comes off, Realm of Caring guarantees them a future supply. They reserve Charlotte’s Web, the highest of their high-CBD strains, for children so they don’t run out. They sell the oil to parents for children at about cost, $6 per dose, and provide it free to families who can’t afford it.Raised in Colorado Springs, a conservative military town with strong Protestant leanings, the Stanley brothers were educated at a Christian prep school. Josh Stanley started growing marijuana about five years ago and later convinced his brothers to help expand operations. "There were times where we worked without pay. We were spending no time with our families; we had no life," said Jordan Stanley. "I was just about to throw in the towel when we discovered Charlotte." The brothers are uncomfortable with the idea that some customers feign symptoms to get red cards. Marijuana is abused by some people, acknowledges Joel Stanley. "But it’s those people who subsidize patients like Piper." The Stanley brothers aren’t the only source of high-CBD strains of cannabis. In fact, Charlotte Figi’s mom, Paige, decided to try it after seeing a video of a child in California who used a strain called R4, said Gedde. But they grow the highest CBD strain that Figi has been able to find. The oil has helped Charlotte, now 7, behaviorally and intellectually. Her autism-like behaviors of self-injury, crying and violence are a thing of the past and she is clear-headed and bright-eyed, said Paige Figi. "We are almost two years into this. We hit our peak seizure control at about six months but she’s gaining skills and learning new words every week," she said. "Most moms take for granted that when you look in your baby’s eyes they’ll hold your gaze. To see that happen for the first time is just..." she said, searching for a word to convey the depth of that emotion. Figi now advises other parents and helps raise money for Realm of Caring, which is exploring an expansion to California to meet growing demand for its oil there. She and an epileptologist are co-authoring an article for the journal Neurology in which they debate with other researchers the benefits of whole plant CBD extracts versus pharmaceutical-grade CBD. The argument that long-term effects are unknown doesn’t hold water for Figi, who hasn’t seen negative side effects in Charlotte. "But I’m happy to check that box and work with scientists to prove it. The answer to ‘We don’t know enough’ is going to be found, and it’s going to be found by parents." The ‘what-ifs’ -- The Koozers arrived in Denver in August and made speedy work of applying for a red card. But it’s a big change from Tennessee, where no pro-marijuana movement exists, though they hope to stir debate by sharing their story. They’ve had to downsize, having moved from a four-bedroom home to a cramped, two-bedroom apartment in Denver, located near the airport so Justin can commute to work and close to a hospital in case of emergencies. Annie, now 30 weeks pregnant with their second child, a boy, spends long stretches of time alone changing diapers, hand-feeding Piper and monitoring her seizures while Justin, a manager for a supplier to the mining industry, travels for work. "You’re completely re-establishing your whole life," said Justin, 28. "We don’t have a support system. We don’t have friends. We had to find a new church, new doctors and therapists." Family can visit, but the Koozers are staying indefinitely. "We can’t leave the state with the extract or it would be a federal offense," said Annie, 33. "We just felt like if we knew something was out there that might work and we didn’t try it we’d be doing the ‘what if’s’ our whole life." The Koozers were given a two-month supply of oil, which they’ll introduce gradually, starting with three .1 milliliter doses a day. If they see improvements, they’ll start weaning Piper off her other medications. A neurologist is monitoring Piper’s progress and the Koozers document her seizures. But there is no playbook to follow. Some kids, like Charlotte, have stopped seizing immediately and others have taken months to see results. The night of her first dose Piper got 10 hours of sleep. Two weeks later, she is still seizing. "It’s been up and down," Annie said last week. But on Halloween the Koozers got a glimpse of a hoped-for future."It was the best day she’s ever had her whole life," Annie said. Piper was happy and alert, laughing at appropriate intervals during a game of peek-a-boo with Justin, who had just returned from a trip, she explained. "It was almost like she knew he was back. Most of the time he comes home and she doesn’t even notice." Annie tries to keep expectations in check. "I’m not expecting her to stand up and walk," she said. "But it’s kind of like she’s waking up a little bit, more able to experience things, laugh and be a kid. That would be really huge for us."Source: Salt Lake Tribune (UT)Author: Kristen Stewart, Salt Lake TribunePublished: November 10, 2013Copyright: 2013 The Salt Lake TribuneContact: letters sltrib.comWebsite: http://www.sltrib.com/ URL: http://drugsense.org/url/Lj7tn0oeCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #19 posted by Hope on November 12, 2013 at 09:41:46 PT
The hard thing about living in "Dry" States..
Is when people around you are dying or sick and the family members ask you what you know about marijuana (cannabis) and could it help their loved one, and you tell them what you've learned, but ultimately, have to say, in this fine free country where we pride ourselves on the availability of the best of help for anything, that they would have to move to a freer more enlightened state, where more people have pushed and raised hell that suffering people should be shown this gentle and helpful compassion.... to even see if it would help. Sick and dying people, that need family and home near, and aren't wealthy can't pick up and move at times like that. They can't and our idiotic, cruel, archaic, draconian laws prevents the healing and comforting use of a plant that can be grown anywhere in the world, even the Arctic... with a green house.There is no excuse for this cruelty and neglect.The way I feel when that happens is just awful. It makes me ashamed and angry. In the face of death and sickness, it's outrageous that this balm is denied to anyone that could benefit.
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Comment #18 posted by Hope on November 11, 2013 at 23:36:23 PT
Goodnight, dear Museman.
I've been kind of blazing the keyboard tonight a bit, but it's past my bedtime now. I've blazed out with all the fire I can muster for this day.Another day tomorrow, to hopefully continue holding gained ground and pushing back on the prohib man or woman that's wanting to keep beating folks with that damned stick of theirs.Good night. Be safe and healthy and keep pushing back against injustice. Especially that injustice that we are forced to pay for. We have to say something about that. We have to complain, bitch, and gripe and to everyone we can and to high heaven, too.We have to saying, "Wait! Wait a gol dang minute!"
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Comment #17 posted by Hope on November 11, 2013 at 23:28:42 PT
You can "School" me about lots of stuff,
Museman. I don't presume to understand much of anything. I'm simple and plain and there's lots of stuff I don't know much, if anything about.
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Comment #16 posted by Hope on November 11, 2013 at 23:14:40 PT
Thank you, Sir.
"If it were personally addressed or directed at you, I reply directly to 'Hope.'"I appreciate that.
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Comment #15 posted by museman on November 11, 2013 at 22:51:58 PT
and also Hope..
Don't think that I would ever presume to school you about anything!
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Comment #14 posted by museman on November 11, 2013 at 21:41:01 PT
Hope
"So I'm just going to assume you're not."Thank you that is the correct assumption. I quote the phrase that sets me thinking. I am merely expounding with my own thoughts that sparked from that particular phrase, or other...If it were personally addressed or directed at you, I reply directly to 'Hope.'Never assume that I do not hold you in high respect even if we sometimes may not, i say may not agree. No need to make that assumption any more. These are my thoughts on the subject. And I cannot back away from the truth that I know. It hasn't won me a lot of friends, but my interests have always been more prioritized towards the truth than my friends, or acquaintances. However I will admit recognizing a need to do just that; prioritize to some degree my friends...I know you well enough to count something more than just an acquaitance, to have earned my respect -make no mistake I do not give that lightly or easily.I am not in contention or disagreement with you! :-}Carry on.
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Comment #13 posted by Hope on November 11, 2013 at 20:41:49 PT
Comment 11
:0(
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Comment #12 posted by Hope on November 11, 2013 at 20:40:13 PT
"Wait a minute!"
I think we've all here... most of us, have been saying that... as loudly as we can.... for many years now. We vowed to change the law... peacefully. Many of us did, anyway. We vowed it to ourselves and sometimes to others. We wanted to stop all the ghastly and drastic harm of the "War on Drugs"... or WOD as it was often known and deal with especially the outrageousness of crimes against humanity because of their hatred for cannabis. What is that about? It took a lot to step up in public and say to that powerful machine that we were and still are up against, "You're wrong! Stop hurting people! Stop hurting people!" Good grief. It was standing up to a behemoth. A monster. A monster that was very intimidating, very dangerous, and could, and would, and did, terrorize, kill, ruin, wound, disrespect, and pillage people's homes and families. It was hard for me. I was afraid. But that's almost why I had to say, publicly, "Wait a minute. Wait a cotton picking minute!"I've learned more than I ever imagined to know about patience and self control. The hope. The disappointment. I study the Drug War and cannabis prohibition in particular like some people study ... I don't know... like they'd study anything. It's wrong and it's dangerous and it has to be resisted in as peaceful and as powerful a way as possible. Museman, I sometimes feel like you might be accusing me of something, and I'm not sure what.So I'm just going to assume you're not.If you are accusing me of something... well, I'm just assuming you're not. Carry on.I've said "Wait a minute"... quite a few times, though, we all have, in quite a few ways. FoM sure does. C-News is the soap box for those "Wait a minute" rants and drug war and cannabis-news education sessions. Letters to the Editors all over the world have been marvelous, absolutely marvelous "Wait a minute" moments. And the prohibitionist may speak back their reasons here. They just don't. They have though, from time to time over these long slugging it out years. We know, without one single doubt, the prohibitionists read here. We are talking to them more than to each other. I believe. And early on, it was our hope that while they were trying to catch us doing something illegal...that they were learning something. Hopefully, they might see that we were normal people, and not lunatics just because we disagree with them in this matter, much as they might desire to think so. We've plowed the media.. including the internet, newspapers, and magazines with many "Wait a minute!" moments and statements and testifying to the truth of the matter. Some of us were at town hall meetings and vigils saying, "Wait a cotton picking minute".But they are pretty wicked... a lot of them... not all of them... and and a lot of them wouldn't pay much attention and they resisted doing the right thing, until they could see some dollars maybe for there depleted coffers.They let people be crushed, beaten, robbed, and killed. Ruined.
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Comment #11 posted by The GCW on November 11, 2013 at 19:34:38 PT
Denver Post
Pot problems in Colorado schools increase with legalizationhttp://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_24501596/pot-problems-colorado-schools-increase-legalization
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Comment #10 posted by museman on November 11, 2013 at 16:11:57 PT
The Final Words
of "GoodAlien""A Call To Arms"Not gonna be popular...
A Call To Arms
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Comment #9 posted by The GCW on November 11, 2013 at 16:06:00 PT
Hemp editorial
EDITORIAL
Clarify laws on growing hemphttp://www.denverpost.com/editorials/ci_24485777/clarify-laws-growing-hemp
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Comment #8 posted by museman on November 11, 2013 at 14:24:26 PT
there is a reason.
"The prohibitionist desire to persecute and prosecute seems to know no end."Because the root of the prohibitionist is in the institutions and organizations that literally rule over us.Adversity and evil are the foundation stones of this society, even when you include all the good intentions that have all been hi-jacked by the fake systems, the result is the same, because the masses continue to support and give power to the wrong authority, the wrong values, and the wrong powers.As long as the masses support the various corruptions that have risen to positions of false power -with all the armies and police to back it up- fear will rule, and all the lip service to Love, Truth, and Justice will remain concept instead of reality.Continue to Feed the beast with your life force every day, go willingly to the slave grind that serves ugly things and (spiritually) ugly people, and the mentality prevalent in the 'prohibition' attitude, demeanor and control over our lives will continue relatively unabated. They will just pass more 'laws' that appear to compromise with the desires of the people, while in reality just creating another set of catch 22 systems that continue to enable their ill gotten and ill maintained power and false authority, while ensuring that the people get none of it. The 'right' to smoke a joint is nothing when all the rest our Yah Given liberties are allowed to be returned to the Bondage of Babylon without so much as a "Wait a minute!"I am disgusted that so many think these feeble compromises have anything whatsoever to do with true and actual liberty, justice, fairness or common sense.Our 'leaders' are all 100% servants of Greed, Destruction, Darkness, Fear, Pain, Suffering, and Death. Not one of them serves Justice, Truth, Love, Goodness, or The Spirit. NOT ONE!!!!!!! All of their lip service compromises with truth only make it a contaminated lie. And the people still go, "Yes Massa!"I cannot express my disgust adequately enough.LEGALIZE FREEDOM
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Comment #7 posted by Hope on November 11, 2013 at 13:09:08 PT
Lawsuit City
If you can't smell it without some sort of magnifying device, you can't smell it!More insanity! The people behind this foolish debacle probably claim to be the "Real" Americans' too. They seem to have less common sense than a demented squirrel.The prohibitionist desire to persecute and prosecute seems to know no end.
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Comment #6 posted by The GCW on November 11, 2013 at 12:29:04 PT
It's in My local paper now too.
http://www.summitdaily.com/news/8862641-113/denver-marijuana-nasal-ranger
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Comment #5 posted by Hope on November 11, 2013 at 11:47:21 PT
Comment 2
That is just so silly, it's hard to believe it's not a joke. Are you sure that's not the Onion? It ought to be. And now another business ... another bureaucracy is born. That's so stupid.
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Comment #4 posted by HempWorld on November 11, 2013 at 09:22:52 PT
Your Hemp Hotel or Trip in Co or Wa Jan 1st!
As of Jan. 1st, it is legal in Co and Wa!We have just set up a travel organization called HempHotels.comWe will take care of your trip for the New-Years legalization celebration!Call us anytime, see website:
HempHotels.com Bookings for Colorado and Washington
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Comment #3 posted by HempWorld on November 11, 2013 at 07:40:09 PT
Ow, that (danky) smell...
The GCW, thanks.I thought this guy was trying to shoot himself in the face! Meanwhile, cigarettes are legal everywhere and they claim lives from bystanders that don't even smoke!Go figure! Cigarettes kill 50% of their users before age 65! Do you think the FDA would approve of cigarette smoke and not cannabis smoke? Cigarette smoke give you cancer and other diseases, cannabis smoke prevents it and heals your ailments.Can you think of a starker contrast?You can soon book your trip to Colorado or Washington to go celebrate, here:
HempHotels.com
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Comment #2 posted by The GCW on November 11, 2013 at 04:21:54 PT
Da Smell
When pot smells in Denver, the Nasal Ranger goes in to investigatehttp://www.denverpost.com/politics/ci_24496810/when-pot-smells-denver-nasal-ranger-goes-investigate
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Comment #1 posted by HempWorld on November 10, 2013 at 20:11:35 PT
How can you trust someone with a name like
Igor?
Charlotte! Watch the Video! Go Stanleys!
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